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Week 1: Response to “The Machine Stops” E.M. Forster – Kyra Bachman

Edward Morgan Forster’s 1909 short story seems to be eerily foreshadow the internet age and the central role it plays in modern society. The setting takes place in a dystopian underground society where civilization has prophesied a machine that manages and provides for the workings of their daily lives. The implications of dependence on technologies is expressed symbolically following the dynamic between Vashti and Kuno. Tension arises between Vashti- a pious worshipping of the machine and Kuno, who questions the value of the machine. Kuno wishes to interact face-to-face with his mother but this behavior viewed as impolite and unsophisticated. It has become that people’s existence is completely dependent on the machine. Kuno eventually discovers the truth after his journey above ground where he learns that the machine is simply a product of human invention that is now controlling them. Once the machine stops, the entire society unravels and descends into a mass chaos .

Given that this piece was published over a century ago- long before the invention of internet, smartphones, or artificial intelligence- I found Forster’s prediction on the damages of dependence on technology especially interesting due to its relevant application to modern day. “The better a man knew his own duties upon it, the less he understood the duties of his neighbor, and in all the world there was not one who understood the monster as a whole” is a fitting visualization. The short story presents a dilemma how to continue on the path of technological advancement without letting the ease and illusion of it take priority real life.

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Week 1 : Response to “The Machine Stops” E.M. Forster – Matthew Fertig

I’ve always found the idea of ‘the future’ to be intriguing. How there is nothing we can certainly say about what the future will be or look like, but can still predict certain things to a pretty high degree. Thus, Forster’s work naturally intrigued me. Many authors and artists throughout history have done their take on the future, almost always including idealistic or dystopian technologies beyond current comprehension. Forster’s work hits home more so than others because of just how much accuracy he has. While we are not, or may think we’re not, reliant on some all-knowing machine, we’re definitely more alike than not alike Forster’s future. It’s commonly known that companies and governments receive intel from our activity on computers and use this knowledge to further their cause in some way. Retail companies can use your browsing history to introduce you to a similar product, for example, or phone companies can recommend accessories because they know you bought a particular phone model. So much of our society today is based around technology and others doing things for us. We hear it all the time but technology is slowly taking more and more away from human interaction and deepening our reliance on devices to do our work for us. I found it interesting how throughout Forster’s writing he frequently prefaced sentences with “of course,” revealing the bizarre realities of his society to be common knowledge. While at first it struck me as odd to continuously have to prove what he says to be obvious, that in and of itself is a truth about technology today: things we’ve become so use to, we almost can’t imagine a world without.

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Week 1: “The Machine Stops” Reading Reflection- Ying Chen

The short story “The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forster written during the early 20th century addresses the negative role of technology in our lives and the way modern people interact with them. Forster developed this science fictional world of a destroyed Earth where there is a disconnected relation between a mother and son. Throughout the story, the machine played an immense role in the trajectory of humanity and the relationships between people. Although the story is unrealistic and is dramatized, Forster was able to foresee the possible danger of technology such as the issue of human dependency on technology.

The story is indeed a society where everything is controlled by machines and human was heavily depended on it. The author began the story by leading the readers into this world where individuals live and function within a cell. This can be symbolism for how our society is becoming more homogeneous. An example can be the job industry where individuals work in an office building or factories and work in their own little workplace that looks and function just like a cell. But the more serious problem of this story is the human dependency on machines. Vashati, the mother is being characterized as someone who is completely living off of the machines. This machine allows individuals to communicate but without being face-to-face or being able to touch each other. You can see this as a modern communication tool like Wechat, Facebook etc. Vashati’s son, Kuno, on the other hand, doesn’t favor the machine at all. He said to his mother “you talk as if God made the machine”, while his mother says to him “One mustn’t say anything against the Machine,” (Forster).  Her response clearly states not only the importance of the Machine but that we should obey it. Also, Forster capitalized the letter “m” whenever the “Machine” is mentioned. This shows off its significance and how it is held at such high level, that it is worthy of praise. In fact, the machine is far more powerful even though it is us that we created them. Like Kuno says “it is we who are dying, and that down here the only thing that really lives is the Machine” (15). 

My take away from this story is that people today are obsessed with technology, whether it is a smartphone or computers. We live in a world where technology is rapidly advancing making it a necessity to our lives as if it was our way of breathing. It can be seen as a lesson for human advancement in technology and anyone who is building a new technology should reconsider before building it because it can cause these complications that can possibly disturb humanity.